Recital Fever Strikes In Coral Springs

At one end are parents like Jane LaTorre, who year after year are happy to camp out in tents and lawn chairs, with TVs and VCRs, Scrabble boards and dominoes.

At the other side are parents like Tracy DeFranco who say, Get off it: This is about a kids' dance recital, not the Rockettes, and it's insane to wait 25 hours and push and shove for free tickets.

Every year since Mrs. P's Dance and Acrobatic Studio opened in 1978, its annual big gig has drawn a lengthy queue of parents a day before tickets are given out outside the school, at Sample Road and Coral Hills Drive.

"The line gets bigger every year," said the school's owner, Joseph Pozzuoli, a.k.a. Mr. P.

This year's show will be today at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. The ticket line for the choicest free seats started at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 1, though tickets weren't given out till 9 the next morning.

The school's Dance Showcase '96 Featuring the Broadway Dancers will include 400 to 450 children and adults singing and doing tap, ballet, jazz-dance and acrobatics. There are 2,700 seats and tickets are still available for the public.

"This is not a recital; it's a production," Pozzuoli said. "It's as good as any professional show I've seen and better than most."

So when the moon tiptoed out on June 1, the sleepy line was about 30 parents thick.

"Apparently, people drove by and asked if they were waiting to buy Panthers tickets," said Uno Avci, of Coral Springs.

LaTorre, of Coconut Creek, has joined the line-dance for the last three years, and this year she was one of the first parents there.

Some parents slept in their cars, she said. Parents ordered Chinese food to the intersection. They even ran extension cords for their TVs and VCRs into the school's electric outlets, thanks to a key from Mr. P.

"I think it is a nice tradition," LaTorre said.

But DeFranco, of Coral Springs, refused to camp out for a good seat.

"I have binoculars," she said. She heard horror stories later.

DeFranco said one parent told her that one woman in line broke her foot, and the woman behind her agreed to hold her place while she went home. When she came back, the woman sent her to the end.

"Then after [the woman who didn't hold the place) got her tickets, she drove off screaming at her, `I got the front row!'" DeFranco said. "It's just barbaric."

LaTorre said she hadn't heard of any broken feet or lack of etiquette. Pozzuoli said he hadn't heard any complaints, either.

But some parents who sauntered in late left hopping mad.

Avci's wife, Kelli, came at 6 a.m. Sunday. The couple were miffed to get seats 20 rows from the stage where their daughter, Noelle, 5, will tap-dance as a "Broadway baby."

"I wanted to at least be able to see the expression on her face," Kelli Avci said. "They should have made it general admission."

For every class a student takes at the school, families get two free tickets. Extra tickets are $18 each.

"I told them my 2-year-old could sit on my lap, but they still wanted $18," Uno Avci said. "It's ridiculous to pay that for a recital."

Pozzuoli said the school took the show to the ritzy Broward Center this year because its usual venue, the Coral Springs City Centre, is being renovated. "There aren't that many places with at least 1,500 seats," Pozzuoli said.

One mom, who asked not to be identified, got a kick out of the line when she came at 8 a.m. Sunday. But she said she kind of understood the fuss.

"You hear about these parents who go crazy about their kids' sports and everything else," the mother said. "They get a little nuts, you know?''